The Connection Between the Jonas Brothers’ Christmas Song and Michael Jackson
The Jonas Brothers were kind of a 2000s equivalent of The Jackson 5. Interestingly, the Jonas Brothers’ Christmas song is directly connected to Michael Jackson; a famous rocker helped craft the song.
A musician who worked with Michael Jackson played on the Jonas Brothers’ Christmas song
The Jonas Brothers’ most famous Christmas song is “Like It’s Christmas.” During a 2022 interview with Songwriting, co-writer Gian Stone discussed recording the track.
“We got this guy Jerry Hey, who did all the Michael Jackson stuff, to do some horns on it,” he recalled. “Next thing you know, they’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s coming out in two weeks,’ and got it mixed by Serban [Ghenea].”
The Jonas Brothers didn’t just regurgitate Stone’s ideas. “So it changed a lot,” he said. “I think part of it was wanting to get real horns in it. We really wanted to try to turn it into a classic-sounding album. So it went from really s***** fake horns to the best horn players playing on it and yeah, it really changed a lot.
“I think also, to their point, I don’t know if it was Nick [Jonas] or [industry insider] Wendy [Goldstein], but originally it was piano-based, and they were like, ‘We play guitar.'” The band decided to make the track more guitar-heavy.
The track is connected to rock star Ryan Tedder as well as Michael Jackson
Stone seemed proud of “Like It’s Christmas.” “So it was really cool,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever been a part of, and all the people on it — Ryan Tedder jumped on it — it’s a whole crew, but it’s all my favorite people, which is great.”
Tedder is a producer and songwriter from the band OneRepublic. He’s given us songs like Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone,” and the Jonas Brothers’ “Sucker.” If anyone knows how to make a hit, it’s Tedder.
Why the Jonas Brothers’ ‘Like It’s Christmas’ wasn’t a huge hit
So far, “Like It’s Christmas” has become a modest hit. The tune reached No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted for seven weeks. That’s not a terrible chart performance, but the track has nowhere near the reach of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” or “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee. So far, “Like It’s Christmas” has not appeared under any of the Jonas Brothers’ records.
This raises an interesting question — why was the reception to “Like It’s Christmas” so lukewarm? Christmas music takes many forms, but it tends to follow certain tropes. If you listen to a Christmas song, there’s a good chance it will include jingle bells, a traditional pop style, and a Phil Spector-style Wall of Sound. Christmas tracks usually aren’t built around horns.
On top of that, Yuletide songs are generally about the holiday itself. “Like It’s Christmas” is about a woman who makes her boyfriend feel like it’s Christmas all the time. For all we know, the tune could take place in the middle of August. Or on Halloween. Or on Australia Day. Gwen Stefani’s “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” has the same premise and garnered the same chilly reception.
The Jonas Brothers enlisted some great people for their Christmas song but that didn’t make it one of the seasonal pop classics.
